PS4 Sales Begin to Show Signs of Decline After Massive Success

Sony has a real winner on its hands with the PlayStation 4 and that fact is only bolstered by the latest earnings the company posted today. According to Sony, 76 million PS4 consoles have been sold in its lifetime, with 19 million sales from 2017 alone.

According Sony’s earnings report, the company took in a revenue of 8,544 billion yen (~$78.1 billion USD) and a profit of 734.9 billion yen (~$6.7 billion USD). The PlayStation division alone made 177.5 billion yen (~$1.6 billion) which is larger than any other division in the company. And remember, Sony has a lot of different product departments.

Lots of PS4 consoles going around.

A closer look at the numbers reveal that in 2017 Sony sold 19 million PS4 consoles in the fiscal year. Down from 20 million in 2016. PlayStation profits also came from an increase in PlayStation Plus subscribers and a strong software lineup.

In 2017, Sony shipped several exclusive titles to great commercial and critical success. There were award-winning games like Horizon Zero Dawn, blockbuster mainstays like Uncharted: The Lost Legacy, and one of our game of the year contenders Nier: Automata.

Sony is looking to continue this trend with games like God of War, which is already receiving stellar reviews, and Insomniac’s Spider-Man, which got a full reveal recently. May will also see the release of Detroit: Become Human which recently went gold.

However, Sony warns that fiscal 2018 will see this success wane and that projected revenue is expected to fall to 8,300 billion yen (~$76 billion USD). Profits will also drop to 670 billion yen (~$6.1 billion USD). The lowered profits aren’t necessarily due to the PlayStation 4 (remember, Sony makes a lot of products) but the PS4 is still getting on in age. Many are wondering when the next console generation might happen, though reports suggest it won’t be for a while.

Regardless, with 76 million units sold, the PS4 is fast-approaching the official lifetime sales of the PS3 which moved 80 million units. The decline in PS4 units shipped in fiscal 2017 is likely to continue until the point where the current console makers determine it’s time for a refresh in the console life cycle.

This article may contain links to online retail stores. If you click on one and buy the product we may receive a small commission. For more information, go here.